


I Know I'm Bad News

by glexko



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Demon Politics, Demon Summoning, Demon!Shane, F/F, M/M, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, bi!ryan, in general just expect a lot of demon stuff, pan!Shane, seven sins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-07-10 01:01:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15938504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glexko/pseuds/glexko
Summary: “I’m no rat, kids,” Shane said, his eyes turning pitch black from corner to corner. “Now run away and tell your mommies you saw the devil.”Shane keeps ending up in places where he has no reason to be. Ryan keeps taking him home. Then Shane gets called  home. His real home.





	1. Chapter 1

Shane had been taking lots of sick days lately.

He never got sick. “It’s the California heat,” he’d say, anytime Ryan would complain of a cold or fever “Only Illinois is allowed to get me sick.”. Ryan remembered having one of these conversations, laughing over the phone while he stayed home eating soup. Shane offered to come over every time, but Ryan said he didn’t want to pass the ‘California bug’ onto him. “I think I’m actually immune to Cali,” Shane would say, Ryan able to hear his smile through the phone.

Which is why it was so weird Shane was getting sick.

He would rush to the bathrooms in the office, leave suddenly halfway through the day, or not even show up for almost two days in a row. And the weirdest thing was, he didn’t even seem sick before he left work. It had been happening for almost a week now, and he had used up almost all of his vacation AND sick days combined for the year. When Ryan asked about this illness, all Shane told him was it was a ‘new virus’ and it lasted about half a day before it got better. But it kept coming back. Ryan didn’t even know if they would be able to film a new episode of Unsolved this week. Shane had been getting sick and then suddenly getting better for the past two weeks, and they had gotten almost no editing done.

Actually, Ryan had gotten nothing done. He was the one who did most of the editing, with Shane helping out and looking over his shoulder. It was just so hard to get stuff done without the long legs constantly annoying him. For some reason, their constant squabbling kept Ryan focused. When he took this up with Jen, she just said he was lonely. “I was like that when I was switching deskmates after Kirsten got promoted. Once Shane gets over this bug, you’ll be fine.”

“What if he’s got something serious, like pneumonia or yellow fever and he won’t tell us because he doesn’t want us to freak out-” Jen cut him off, frustrated. “Ryan, he doesn’t have the bubonic plague. He’s not gonna die. Honestly, you worrying so much about him is making me think you might have a crush on him.” she said, winking.

Ryan felt his cheeks redden. Jen was the only one who knew he was bi, when she found his browser left open on tinder. She had told him she thought it was hilarious that the buff extrovert was a shy little dude when it came to guys. “It’s adorable,” she had said, looking through his matches with him. He hadn’t had much luck finding anyone. Jen had set him up once, but it ended nowhere. “You are so picky,” she had said when he told her about all his failed dates. Ryan thought he knew why. Sort of.

He had been planning on coming out to Shane soon. Well, everybody and Shane. He was going to tell his parents first, but then decided they didn’t need to know until he actually brought a boy home to meet them. So Shane seemed like a good starting point. Shane was understanding. He would get it.

So he called Shane. And after the fifth try, Shane picked up.

“Hey man, whats up?” Shane sighed, his voice shaking slightly.

“Are you okay?” Ryan said, “You don’t sound so good. I can call back later if you-”

“No Ryan, keep talking. I just don’t have good service where I’m at. I’m somewhere in Montana.”

_What the fuck?_

“Shane, how did you manage to get to Montana in a day? Why are you there? What the fuck?”

Shane hushed him, actually hushed him, and sighed again. “I don’t really know. One moment I’m at home, eating some soup, and the next I wake up in an Montana gas station bathroom near the Canadian border paying someone to use their phone. I think I blacked out and somehow my monkey brain decided to go to Montana. I’m not even sure. I’m just trying to get good service righ-”

“Shane,” Ryan told him. “I’m coming to Montana to get you.”

“Ryan, no. I will find an airport somewhere and fly back. You can’t just leave work to come get me. It would take a couple days to drive here-”

“So I’ll fly. Really, Shane. You can’t do anything right now, you’re sick and half controlled by a monkey brain, which I am going to ask you about when I find you, by the way. I’ll fly out and find you at whatever gas station you’re at and take you home. Seriously. Just let me help.”

Shane groaned a little. “Okay. But when we get home I get to pay you back for the plane tickets. Its only fair.”

“We will discuss this on a further date. Can you send me a pin of where you are?”

“I’m paying for the tickets, and yes.”

So that was that. Ryan was flying to Montana to pick up his best friend from a gas station he had gotten to somehow while he was delusional. Not what he pictured his Thursday night being like.

 

Shane hung the payphone up on its hook and turned to lean against the grocery store wall. So what, he may have changed a few aspects of the story he told Ryan. But, technically, he was paying to use someone’s phone, and across the street there was a gas station.

But now he had to figure out how to send a pin to Ryan. Tricky, but not impossible. His eyes scanned the street until he saw what he needed. A library. Perfect. He started to walk over, but something was wrong. Not right. A pull in his gut, trying to drag him over to the alleyway across the street. He glanced over and saw them. A couple of teenagers with thick black eyeliner and army boots were huddled in a circle, looking down on something small on the ground. That had a lot of hair and a giant tail.

“Not again,” Shane grumbled, slowly stalking over to the group of emos and the hissing cat at their feet.

“What are you kids doing?” Shane demanded, towering over them to get a closer look. A cat with bright yellow eyes glared up at him from inside the emo circle.

“Go away, rat man,” One of the emos said from behind his bleached tipped bangs.

Rat man? The cat looked up at him again, a spark in its eyes.

“I’m no rat, kids,” Shane said, his eyes turning pitch black from corner to corner. “Now run away and tell your mommies you saw the devil.”

Bleached tips and his little gang ran away screaming. For kids who say they worship the devil, Shane thought, They’re sure a bunch of yuppies when it comes to seeing one.

“Are you kidding me?” Shane said to the cat at his feet, grabbing it by the haunches. “Come on, you’ve got some explaining to do.”

Farther back in the alleyway, Shane dropped the cat on a garbage bin. It nodded its head sideways. “Really.” Shane said, rolling his eyes. It glared at him and frowned, if a cat could frown. Shane turned around and closed his eyes.

“Haven’t seen you in a few millennia.” Shane turned back to the garbage bin and saw a demon sitting on it. Tiny horns on its head looked like a baby goats, and wings resembling a sparrows on his back fluttered anxiously. The only things that hadn’t changed from his cat form were the bright yellow eyes and the crazy brown hair.

“I swear to god,” The little demon recoiled at that as Shane said it “Sorry. But what the hell are you doing in Montana? Last time I saw you, you were smuggling shrunken heads across the fifth realm.”

“Actually, I was following you-”

Shane cut him off. “And haven’t I told you not to shift to a cat, kids love the things. If you look more like a seagull why not be one?”

The smaller demon gasped. “Those things are the garbage of the air! Anyone who has seagull wings is destined to be an asshat.” He fluttered his wings proudly. “I am a sparrow, the most noble and brave of the feathered wings.”

“Is that why you lie and decieve people for a living, Erreg?” Shane said with a hiss in his voice.

“Hey, I am a demon, what can ya do,” Erreg shrugged, turning to dig through the garbage bin. “By the way, I know why you keep showing up in these places.”

Shane froze. “What.”

“Oooh, rotten pickles,” Erreg squealed, pulling the once green-now brown pickles from the bin.

“It's just like Melba Dill,” Erreg scanned through the trash again. “Maybe I can find a Steven Rootbeer for her. I ship them. Can you make sure they get togethe-“

Shane grabbed him by the horns. “Why. Am. I. Here.” His eyes changed back once again from their normal brown to the pitch black. His horns came out as well, but his were bigger, sharper, and a lot more intimidating.

“Woah woah woah, big guy,” Erreg squawked, his voice pitchy with underlying fear. “It’s no biggie. They wouldn’t send a little guy like me if it was big, would they?”

Shane relaxed his grip on Erregs horns. “Okay. That’s true. But who is summoning me?”

Erreg rubbed at the base of one of his horns. “That hurt. And you would think that you would get summoned more, considering you’re the-”

Shane hissed at him “You can’t just say that out loud! Things listen. Ears everywhere.”

Rolling his eyes, Erreg pulled something from his pocket. “We think it’s just some punk kids who happen to be doing stuff right. How they got the ritual perfect is beyond me.”

He handed Shane a letter written in old-style parchment. “This is from your mothers, by the way.”

Shane grunted.

“They miss you, you know.” Erreg said, an unusual sincerity in his eyes. “You should come visit.”

Shane quickly turned away as he ripped the note in half. “You know I can’t,” He said, his eyes burning. “Not after what he did.”

“I understand. But you are the rightful heir. And your mother wants to retire.”

Shane’s head whipped around. “What?”

“You heard me. And if you don’t get the throne, he will.”

Shit. Shit shit shit shit _shit._ “What do I do? I have a life here now, Erreg. I can’t just abandon it.”

“You’re willing to live with humans but not save your own kind from that monster? Who’s side are you on?”

“I don’t know,” Shane said, burying his face in his claws. “I can’t just abandon Ryan, and Buzzfeed, and all my other stuff!”

“Is this, Ryan, is he your mate?”

Shane hoped Erreg didn’t notice the blush spreading from his neck to his cheeks. “No. Not Ryan.”

“Because if you came down with a mate the throne will automatically become yours. He wouldn’t even be able to challenge you.”

Shit, he was right. Either he let an absolute scumbag rule over his home, or came home. With a mate, preferably. And Ryan-

No. Not Ryan. He did not need to drag this whole human life into his other life. And plus, he’s pretty sure Ryan’s head would explode. One flashlight turning on did it for him then, imagine finding out his best friend is a demon? Yikes. No Ryan.

“Look, I’ll come find you in two days. Make up your mind by then,” Erreg said, picking up the pickle on the ground from where he’d dropped it and stuffing it in his pocket. “And I can bring you home.”

And with that, Shane was left alone as Erreg changed into a sparrow and flew away. He sat in that alley for a while, just breathing. It was gonna be okay. He would figure something out. But, first, he had to tell Ryan where he was. He changed his eyes back to their human form and walked to the library.


	2. Chapter 2

Ryan nervously drummed his fingers on the back of the headrest in the taxi. What if Shane wasn’t here anymore? What if someone took him away, stole him or something? What if this was all a prank Buzzfeed put on to get views? He could imagine Shane watching this from a hidden camera in the taxi, a smirk on his stupid face. 

****

“Hey, we’ve been here for two minutes, you wanna go?” The taxi driver said, toothpick slurring his words.

****

Ryan hadn’t even noticed they had stopped while he was busy worrying about Shane. “Stay here for a bit, okay?” Ryan hopped out of the car and speed walked over to the gas station. 

****

_ Of all the gas stations to choose from, Shane chooses the nastiest one. Classic.  _

****

The mud stained floor creaked under Ryans weight as he walked into the convenience part of the gas station. He walked over to the cashier, who was reading a playboy, and asked him if he had seen a tall guy.

****

“Yeah, big head? I’ve seen him around. Check the bathroom.” The man spit out his chew and flipped open the foldable in the magazine.  _ This has to be the most hicktown gas station I’ve ever seen,  _ Ryan thought.

****

The smell that greeted him from the bathrooms was less than pleasant, but Ryan walked in anyways. He found Shane sitting on the baby changer, reading a  _ National Geographic. _

****

“Pleasure meeting you here, stranger.” Ryan droned, drawing out a southern accent. 

****

Shane looked up from the magazine. “Howdy, partner,” He said, his fake accent even worse than Ryans.

****

They both grinned at each other like the fools they are. Ryans stomach flipped anxiously. Shane didn’t look like he has suffering from some bug , his eyes soft and bright. His tousled hair was sticking up in sixteen different directions, in the normal ‘I don’t care what I look like because I’ll look good anyways’ look Shane always has going on. Other than his collar sticking up and looking generally rough around the edges, Shane looked  _ good.  _ Really good. He ran a hand through his messy hair and Ryan imagined doing that himself, how soft it would be, Shane’s breath hitting his neck, leaning in to reach closer-

****

“So are you gonna take a shit in here, or can we leave now?” Shane cracked, making Ryan realize  _ oh shit I was just thinking about running my hand through Shanes hair. What the shit what the shit what- _

****

“Shut up, Shane. Let’s go, I’ve got a cab waiting.” Ryan quickly walked out of the washroom to hide his blush, because  _ what?  _ Did he have a crush on Shane? Why was he thinking about this shit? It’s not like Shane is into guys. At least, he’s never heard about Shane going out with a dude. Or ever being remotely interested. Sure, they’ve said that they find certain men attractive (thank you Benedict Cumberbatch,) but Shane? Ryan’s not even sure if Shane (say he  _ is  _ interested in guys) would be into him. They are polar opposites. It just wouldn’t work. 

****

Ryan hopped into the cab and wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans. Shit. Once they got home he would need to take a Sunday to overthink this. He couldn’t like Shane. It risks too much. Unsolved, being his coworker, being friends…

****

“You didn’t even hold the door open for the sickly man? I thought you were rescuing me!” Shane chided, swinging his giant legs into the cab. 

****

“And I thought I was the princess,” Ryan said, rolling his eyes as his heart did little flips in his chest. Jesus, it was like highschool all over again. 

****

“Oh, come on,” Shane said, tapping Ryan with one of his feet. “You know I’m the damsel in distress, with my prince to come save me.” He batted his eyelashes and  _ holy shit, wow, he really did like Shane. _

****

But didn’t that sound like flirting?  _ With my prince to come save me.  _ From all the experiences Ryan has had, flirted at or flirting, that did sound like Shane wanted to, you know,  _ hook up.  _

****

But didn’t they flirt all the time? Ryan could remember hundreds of times they’d joked and bickered with each other. Fans loved it, and Ryan believed that the only reason Unsolved got so many views was because of their dynamic. The constant going back and forth had always seemed a little,  _ playful,  _ a little dangerous. Borderline flirting. What if Shane really was flirting? Holy shit, what if Shane liked him back?

****

Ryan almost laughed out loud. He was getting ahead of himself. There was no way Shane liked him, no way Shane was into dudes, and most certainly  _ no way  _ he could like Shane. 

****

The cab driver started driving back towards the airport. Once he got home and made sure Shane was at home, staying home, he would go out and get a drink and think things over. Ryan Bergara was not going to overthink this. He wouldn’t let himself.

****

Shane nudged Ryan with his elbow. “Hey man,” he said softly, “you good?”

****

“Yeah, just tired.” Ryan replied. Crap. Shane noticed something was off. “You shouldn’t be worried about me. What about this crazy monkey sickness?”

****

“Oh, it’s normal,” Shane said with a shrug. When he didn’t say anything more and noticed Ryan’s dropped jaw, he added on “It runs in the family. Madejs get crazy when they get sick. Which is why we’re never sick,” he added on quickly. “This is just a little bug. I’ll get over it soon.”

****

“Shane, you’ve been going home sick for over a month. Have you gone to the doctors?”

****

“Nah, I’ll be fine. Just a couple more days and I’ll be over it.”

****

Ryan gave him a look. “You said that two weeks ago.”

****

“Time flies when you go to Montana and have no recollection of it, I guess,” Shane shrugged and Ryan couldn’t help but grin. What a loveable idiot. Shit. Did he just call Shane loveable?

****

“Wait, has this happened before? Have you ended up in random places with no recollection before this time?” 

****

Shane’s reply was to look out the window quickly. “Holy shit, this has happened before, hasn’t it?”

****

“Well…..”

****

“Shane! What the hell? Where did you go?”

****

“I did end up in Kansas a couple times-”

****

“KANSAS?!!” Ryan shouted, making the driver flinch. “Sorry. But seriously dude, this is  _ just coming up _ ? How many times?”

****

“Ummmm, maybe three times?” Shane said quietly. “I usually had my phone on me so I could E-Transfer money and shit, so I would just buy a ticket home. But this time my phone wasn’t on me, so I had to wait until someone called me. Thank God you did, or I might have been stranded here for a while.”

****

“Jesus, Shane, why didn’t you tell anyone? I could have stayed home with you to make sure you stayed in bed.”

****

A small blush crept up Shane’s cheeks. “I didn’t want to bother anyone.. Everyone else was working, so I didn’t tell anyone else.” He rubbed his face in his hands. “That sounds stupid now, doesn’t it? Jeez. I thought I was doing the right thing.”

****

_ Screw it _ , Ryan thought, putting his hand on Shane’s leg. “That is both the most stupid and altruistic thing I have ever heard someone do.”

****

Shane looked up from his hands. “Really?”

****

“Not wanting to bother anyone because you were halfway across the country with no money? Shane, you’re an idiot. But you’re also really selfless. And stupid. Did I mention that?”

****

Shane beamed up at Ryan through his fingers. 

****

“Thanks, Ryan. Also, you’ve had spinach in between your teeth for a while. Everyone saw it.”

****

“Shane, you really turn my smile upside down.”

****

Shane faked crying and blew phony snot into his plaid shirt. “Ryan, I think you broke my heart.”

****

_ Let’s hope you don’t break mine,  _ Ryan thought as he laughed at Shane.  _ At least, not yet. _

********  
  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

“Our flight was cancelled?” Shane said as Ryan huffed his way over to the vending machine.

****

“Yeah, and now I’m gonna be late for work tomorrow,” He growled, punching in the numbers for a gatorade. 

****

“You know those things aren’t good for you when you aren’t exercising, right?”

****

“Whatever, Shane,” Ryan grabbed the bottle from the bottom of the machine. “I’m gonna go see if they’ll give us a free hotel stay.”

****

Shane sat down in the under-cushioned airport seats as Ryan stalked towards the loading attendant, who was already dealing with a lady and her two pomeranians. 

****

Shane groaned as he leaned back farther into the worn fabric of the seat. He was gonna have to go back to Hell, wasn’t he. Nards. He would hate to abandon Buzzfeed, his human family, his friends-

****

And Ryan. He would miss Ryan the most. His bad jokes, (Shane’s were worse, he’d been told,) his freakouts at haunted sites, his passion about everything he did, his smile, everything. Shane’s heart ached with all the things he would be missing. But he couldn’t think about it now. Best to leave it until he was back in Hell, where it was normal to be miserable. 

****

Hell. God, he hated it there. He was never really a good demon anyways, so it made sense for him to be up here. His moms supported him with anything he wanted to do, but he knew they wanted him down there with them. But it was hard to be down there after what  _ He _ had done. Before what he had done, Hell had felt like home, like a place he could go when LA got a little too human-y. Now it just felt like he had been locked out of his own house. 

****

After what had happened, he had wandered around for a while, never really finding anywhere he could stop and make a living. Obviously, he had unlimited funds (he was a demon, after all,) but he wanted to stick somewhere, not like those celebrity demons who travelled everywhere. But then he met Ryan Bergara. The little man who loved ghosts. He just kind of clicked into place after that, bending minds  _ slightly,  _ just enough to make everyone think he had worked there for four years. And then Brent just  _ happened  _ to be working on something else. He offered to take the spot of co-host on Unsolved, and the rest was history. 

****

There was just something about Ryan that Shane couldn’t let go. He didn’t know if it was the morbid fascination in serial killers, or just the arms, but Ryan Bergara was the central point of Shane’s life. Before Unsolved, before Ryan, Shane had never fit anywhere. He was never a good demon (apparently he was too soft on the souls he was supposed to be torturing.), and of course he wasn’t a good human. But Buzzfeed had tons of terrible humans, so he blended right in. And Ryan-Oh man, Ryan. He made Shane feel  _ real  _ for the first time in a long time. The first time he had laughed in two years was because of Ryan. The first time he was truly super drunk was because of Ryan. The first time Shane had realized he had human emotions was because of Ryan.

****

Because he was hopelessly in love with Ryan. 

****

Demons can have feelings, but they should be  _ demon  _ feelings, not human feelings. The only way demons fell in love was if they were Fallen, or if it was a Fallen they had fallen in love with. And obviously Ryan wasn’t fallen, so that meant Shane was Fallen. Which explained a lot.

****

Shane had been found as a child in the streets of Hell. When someone took him to the queen, she decided to take him in as her own. He had always known that he was adopted, but no one could have known he was Fallen. No one can tell, except for maybe God himself. Fallen look like normal demons, but were usually turned when they were older and had sinned. How Shane, a baby at the time of his turning, could have sinned, he has no idea. All he knows is that he’s fallen, and he’s in love with a human. Could be worse, right?

****

Not really. Shane groaned and almost tripped the pomeranian lady with his legs. Maybe he was Fallen because his dear old dad made his proportions all wrong. It would make sense, the dude is kind of a douche.

****

“I got us a room,” Ryan said, wagging two key cards in front of his face as he walked towards Shane. “I guess we should check in.”

****

“Yeah,” Shane said, stretching his gigantic arms in the air to stretch. “Before they take it away.” 

****

Ryan glowered at him darkly. “Don’t even joke about that. If the lady with the dogs hadn’t worn her down, I’m not sure we would have a place to sleep tonight.”

****

“Thanks, Gladys!” Shane yelled at pomeranian lady and she spun around so fast she must have given her dogs whiplash. 

****

Ryan wheezed. “How’d you know her name?”

****

“Lucky guess?” Shane replied. It wasn’t. Her dogs kept barking it to each other. 

****

“You’re the luckiest person I know,” Ryan said, turning to walk towards the hallway to the hotel.

****

“Not really,” Shane mumbled under his breath.  _ Not if I’m losing you.  _

****

“What?”

****

“Nothing.”

********  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
  


The hotel room had to have been 60 years old. The mystery stains on the carpet and the ceiling were moulding slightly, and the sink kind of smelt like vomit. 

****

“I guess it’s better than a ghost house,” Shane said, poking the pillows, which had somehow gotten hard in spots.

****

“I think I’ve stayed in cleaner haunted spots than this,” Ryan had said, disgusted with the yellow spot on the desk. “How does a desk even get yellow?”

****

He fiddled on his phone while Shane cleaned up, until the terrible wifi cut out a final time. Then he counted the spots on the roof as he waited for Shane to finish. For someone who puts no time in to their appearance, he did take a long time to clean up. 

****

Shane finally came out of the washroom, steam climbing up his arms from the doorway. He was wearing an extra pair of sweats Ryan had thrown in his bag hastily. Shane was lucky he had a pair at Ryan’s for whatever reason. Who knows. One time he had found a pair of boxing gloves in his apartment that Shane claimed were his. 

****

Ryan gulped. The steam had condensed on Shane’s bare chest, which was surprisingly strong looking. Yeah, Ryan had seen Shane shirtless before, but that was before Ryan had feelings for him. Damn, Shane looked good. Ryan forced his eyes off of Shane before he saw and pretended to fiddle on his phone. 

****

“Did you know the towels here have purple stains in them? What do you think did that?” Shane asked, hopping on the bed Ryan was lying on. 

****

“I dunno, demon blood?” 

****

“Nah, that stuff’s blue.” Shane said, dangling his legs over the side of the bed, which barely fit both of them. Shane’s head was  _ very  _ close to Ryan’s butt. Ryan’s palms get sweaty again. 

****

“Blue? Hmm, would’ve thought it was purple or maybe green.” Ryan’s stomach did somersaults as Shane flipped over and army-man crawled over to him. 

****

“Nope, demon blood runs blue, baby,” Shane winked and flopped over to lay on his back beside him.

****

“You sure know lots about something that you don’t think exists.”

****

Shane only grunted at that. Ryan took that as a win.

****

They lay like that for a few minutes, the only sound in the room was the shallow breaths of both of them, only slightly out of sync. 

****

“What do you think we would do,” Shane said softly, “If one of us was dying, and only had a few days to live?”

****

Ryan blinked up at the ceiling. “I don’t know. Maybe make one last Unsolved episode?”

****

“That would be nice, I think. Would we make time to finally watch the fourth Harry Potter movie?”

****

Ryan smiled at the fact Shane remembered he had seen all of the movies except for that one. “I would hope so,” Ryan whispered. “We could try all the popcorn we’ve never had.”

****

“Or go to Boysenberry farms again? I never got to ride the Berry-Whorl.”

****

Ryan giggled. “Because you were too busy in the gift shop.” 

****

Shane turned to him suddenly. “Why don’t we do all this stuff now? What if one of us died suddenly and we never got to do any of these things together? Would we regret it for the rest of our lives?”

****

Shane’s eyes burned into Ryans. They were so close their noses could touch, with one tiny movement-

****

Shane flipped away. “Maybe I’m being stupid. Sorry. I’m feeling a little funny.”

****

Ryan’s cheeks heated up. “No, no, no Shane. You’re not being stupid. It’s true. Any of us could die suddenly, and it would make us both regret lots of things.”

****

Shane turned on his side to face Ryan again. “Anything we would regret not doing, we should do now. Because what if? What if something happens? Because even if nothing happens, we’ll still feel better, right?”

****

Ryan swallowed his fear. “I’m bisexual,” he blurted, feeling his cheeks flush with color. “I thought I should tell you because what if I never did and we were just talking about regrets and I would regret never telling you and-”

****

“Ryan, it’s okay. I get it.” Shane cooed “I feel the same way.”

****

Ryan stopped shaking. “....Really?”

****

“Yeah, Ryan, I’m pan. I get it.”

****

Shane had just rocked Ryan’s world. “You’re pansexual?”

****

“Honestly, I’m surprised you hadn’t noticed,” Shane said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ve dated quite a few guys.”

****

How had he not noticed? Ryan internally slapped himself in the face. He sat up in the bed and Shane followed suit. “Wow,” Ryan said. “A big night for discoveries.”

****

“Oh? I thought there was just the one.” 

****

“Well, there’s more, but that’s my secret to keep.”

****

Shane moved closer to him in a way that had to be impossible when sitting on a double bed cross legged. “Oh come on, Ryan baby, you can tell me anything.”

****

Shane reached out and grabbed both of Ryan’s clammy hands. 

****

Ryan laughed nervously “Jeez, Shane, your hands are crazy warm right now-” Ryan looked down and froze. Shane had claws, sharpened tips that were a deep blue and as sharp as an icicle. Shane seemed to realize the same time as Ryan and whipped his head up. 

****

“Ryan- I can explain-”

****

Ryan looked up at Shane and suddenly he had horns, curling around his now pointed blue ears and then there were wings, giant wings that looked like a bats and were such a dark blue but they were dotted, dotted with stars and they were a galaxy forming right in front of Ryan’s eyes, and holy  _ shit what happened to Shane what happened to his Shane what _

****

“Ryan, I know this is gonna sound crazy but I am going to disappear soon. It’s happening so much quicker than usual. I need you to stay calm and not involve the police, okay? Nod yes to me.”

****

Ryan stared at the thing that had replaced Shane. 

****

“Please, Ryan, it’s me.” Shane’s voice broke. “I’m Shane.”

****

Ryan looked at the eyes that had replaced Shane’s, pitch black but still feeling. 

****

“...Shane?”

****

“Ryan, baby, please, do this for me. Nod yes. Understand. I will find you.”

****

Something in Ryan clicked. He nodded his head. 

****

“Come back, Shane.”

****

“I’m sorry, Ryan. I will explain everything.” The thing that was Shane flickered. “I’ll come find you.”

****

The shadow of the.. Thing finally disappeared for good. Ryan had to sit down. His brain was still catching up.  _ Just stay here,  _ his brain told him.  _ Shane will come find you.  _

****

_ But is it still really Shane? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the great feedback I'm getting! Hopefully I will be updating this regularly, but unfortunately, school is tiring.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh. I am so sorry this took so long, I've just had a lot going on in my life. My dog just had her first litter and it's been... wild. I know this one is kind of short but I promise the next chapter is coming quickly and will be long. It's probably pretty messy too, so I apologise in advance. I hope you enjoy this more than I did!

The first thing Shane saw when he appeared on the pentagram was the sea. The salt from the ocean ticked his nose, and he shivered when the wind whipped around his shaking body. 

 

“Shit,” he said out loud to himself. “Shit. Shit shit shit shit, holy shit.”

 

So. Ryan was probably having a mental breakdown somewhere in the world about Shane being a fucking  _ demon,  _ and Shane couldn’t even explain. Couldn’t even help Ryan not break his brain. His head was already throbbing with the thought of Ryan sitting alone in that hotel room.

 

Also, Where the hell was he? On a giant fucking rock beside the sea, he guessed. Whoever was summoning him sure had a knack for the dramatic. They were also the biggest pain in the ass Shane had ever heard of. Who summons a demon and then leaves? What’s the point? He was gonna kill whoever summoned him. Better yet, he was gonna kill their bird. The raven feathers surrounding the pentagram were pissing Shane off, fluttering in the salty breeze, looking so cool. It was probably a fucking warlock summoning him, they liked birds. Fucking warlocks. 

 

Shane stretched his wings and they hit the barrier that the pentagram made around him, like a glass cage. It was an invisible cylinder trapping him there, until he could gather enough energy to destroy it. Which wouldn’t take long, considering the was so fired up he was creating steam in the humid air around him. 

 

Judging from the giant rocks jutting from the crashing waves, and how fucking cold it was, Shane guessed he was in Maine. Or somewhere on the northeast coast. Crap. That was the farthest he’d been from LA so far. Another wave of anger washed over him. How the hell was someone travelling this far so quickly? He could never see any trace of them when he appeared, and they always seemed long gone by the time he was there. And to get from Montana to Maine in less than a day? Yeah, you could get a plane, but to have so many consecutive flights in a row to these places? It was unheard of. Unless the person doing this was a high level demon or a Hopper, this kind of thing would be impossibl-

 

Shit. Erreg was a Hopper. Shane plucked one of the feathers from the air. It was definitely a raven feather, but Erreg would know who it was. There were only about 20 Hoppers left. When your species smuggles things for a living, it was pretty hard to keep the population up. 

 

That son of a bitch. He told Shane it was some kids. Shane was going to pluck Erreg from head to toe when he saw him next.  Shane’s frustration finally popped the shield around him and he shook his wings out. 

 

It looked like he was in the middle of nowhere. No signs of any human life could be seen for miles. Crap. Shane was hoping to steal a shirt or something before he tried to leave. He would just have to fly to the nearest town. His spiked tail flicked with annoyance as he took of into the sky to find some kind of gift shop. Maybe he’d find a bigfoot t-shirt for Ryan.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

When Shane landed in the outskirts of a small town, the last thing he expected to see was Erreg. He was leaning against an oak tree, smoking what looked to be a joint. 

 

Shane smacked the joint from Erreg’s lips. “What the fuck, dude? Who is summoning me?”

 

“Woah woah woah,” Erreg squeaked, the last puff of smoke spilling from his lips. “Calm down, big guy.”

 

“Don’t call me that.” It reminded Shane of Ryan, sitting in the hotel room. “I know whoever is summoning me is a Hopper, and you all know each other. Who’s the raven?”

 

“Raven?” Shane showed Erreg the feather. “We don’t have any ravens,” Erreg said. “The last raven we had died about fifteen years ago. She was good, too. Shame.”

 

“Then who is summoning me?” Shane chewed on the inside of his lip, hoping for answers. 

 

“I have no clue,” Erreg said, shrugging his shoulders. “If you returned to Hell, though…”

 

“Erreg,” Shane said sternly. “I have about 55 problems on earth right now and I’m not leaving until I get it sorted out.”

 

“If you returned to Hell all your, what do you call them up here? Talents? Anyways, they would be strengthened and you could put a tracing spell on the pentagrams.”

 

Well, this was technically true. He was never at his full power when he looked human. Even with his wings and horns out now he could feel the power thrumming through his veins. He clenched and unclenched his fists and smelt the rough smell of his magic, like pine and something he’d never been able to name, but had always known. Everyone’s magic smelt different. Erregs had always smelt like cinnamon and caramel to Shane. The stronger the scent, the stronger the magic. 

 

Shane’s smell was overpowering.

 

“Well, if you need to clear stuff up, I can help you.”

 

“What?” 

 

Erreg shrugged again. “We kind of need you down in Hell. If I can speed up the show, then by all means, let’s put it on fast forward.”

 

“You don’t need me down there.”

 

“Yes, we do. It’s falling apart. Your mom just wants to retire, your other mom is stressed out, and the cleanup crew is protesting.”

 

“Seriously? Cleanup crew? They have it the best down there,” Shane muttered, his wings starting to droop. He would have to explain this to Ryan, fast. Shit, that meant leaving Ryan quicker. 

 

He had to have a good outlook on this. He couldn’t moan and groan about it until he was done. But seriously, this really sucked. 

 

He sighed loudly. “Okay. I’ll give you the coordinates and you can broadcast me there. But first I need to find a gift shop. Know any bigfoot stores around here?”

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Ryan sat in the hotel room for a very long time doing nothing. What was he supposed to do, call the cops? No one would believe him.  _ Hey, I just saw my best friend whom I have feelings for turn into a fucking demon. It’s complicated.  _

 

Eventually he got up to get a glass of water. When he stepped through a pile of something like dust that kind of smelt like pine, he almost thought Shane had just turned to ashes and his ghost was just fucking with him. Spontaneous combustion was a thing. It could have happened. But he doesn’t think, if Shane was a ghost, he would fuck with him that way. If Shane were a ghost there would be shit flying. Everywhere. Ryan’s giggles turned into psychotic laughs as he imagined Shane’s ghost throwing a hotel-issue bible at him.

 

“No throwing Holy things at me, Shane!” Ryan yelled at the walls. “If you’re a ghost, no spooky shit!”

 

Ryan was sitting down again, slowly realizing that he was screaming alone in a hotel room. With a pile of dark blue ashes at his feet. And no Shane. 

 

“What an ass,” Ryan muttered to himself, thinking about how Shane had the audacity to just, you know,  _ be a demon.  _ Or whatever the hell was going on. Ryan didn’t even know anymore.

 

_ I’ll come find you.  _

 

Should he just wait here for however long? Who knew if Shane was coming back? He could be here days with nothing happening. The rational thing to do would be to go back to LA and continue life as normal. He’d just tell people Shane moved or something. Is taking a year off in Iceland. Whatever. 

 

_ Ryan, it’s me. It’s Shane. _

 

But whatever it was said to wait. He couldn’t just leave with the fact that Shane could come back, that he could have normal Shane back. And what would happen if Shane came back and Ryan wasn’t here? Whatever was possessing Shane would possibly give him back. 

 

It had to be something possessing him, right? Ryan had never heard of demons posing as normal humans. Sure, little girls with pigtails, but a really tall dude working at Buzzfeed? He didn’t think so. It could be true, though. Shane had fucked with so many haunted sites, asking for his head to be ripped off, it was possible. Some demon could have been following them and just then decided to possess Shane. That was the logical decision.

 

Just when they were getting somewhere, too. Shane had taken Ryan’s  _ hands,  _ for God’s sake. It was getting kind of intimate. Good thing Shane had piped up about doing things before they were gone-

 

Oh, oh no. No no no no  _ no. _ Shane had known. Shane had known that he was going to leave, he just didn’t know when, and he wanted to do things before he got possessed, or killed, or turned into a demon, whatever the fuck was happening. Shane had known. And had done nothing. It’s not like he could have, right? He knew what would happen, and you can’t really stop a demon from possessing you. Unless you have talismans. Which Shane wouldn’t. 

 

_ I’m sorry, Ryan. I’ll come find you.  _

 

“Holy shit,” Ryan said aloud, feeling his eyes prick with salt. “He knew this was gonna happen.”

 

“Well, not really.” 

 

Ryan twisted around to the voice. Shane leaned against the doorframe, two sweatshirts in his hand. “Bigfoot sweaters. Thought I would stop on my little trip and get some for us.”

 

“Wha- What? Holy shit Shane, What the HELL is going on!”

 

“More like  _ un _ holy shit,” Shane murmured, throwing the sweaters to the side. “Sit down, little buddy, I’ll tell you about it.”

 

“LITTLE BUDDY?!” Ryan roared. “Shane, you’re fucking possessed! Or you’re a ghost, or demon, or entity, what the fuck! What is going on!”

 

Shane’s voice got softer. “Hey, hey, Ryan. Sit down, it’s okay.” 

 

Bubbling anger from Shane being whatever he was turned into numbness as Shane coaxed Ryan into sitting on the bed again, his hands gently resting on Ryan’s  shoulders. “Buddy,” Shane said softly. “It’s okay. I’m here.”

 

Ryan slowly turned his head to meet Shane’s doe eyes. “Is it you? Is it the real you? Because I’m not even sure what the real you is.”

 

Ryan wasn’t feeling anymore. He didn’t know what he should feel. Relief? Anger? Confusion? He had gotten Shane back, but he had also just seen Shane disappear in front of his eyes with horns and a tail. Was that the real Shane? Or was the real Shane, the one who brought him coffee at work, the one who shit on all of his theories in a nice way, the one that made Ryan’s heart flutter, was that Shane gone? 

 

“This is the real Shane, Ryan. It’s me.”

 

“Don’t do that.”  So he guessed this Shane could read fucking  _ minds.  _

 

“Well, you’re not doing much else, so…”

 

“Shut up.” 

 

“Well it’s not my fault my best friend is fucking mute now.”

 

“Well it’s not my fault my best friend is fucking possessed.”

 

Somehow they managed to bicker about this. It made Ryan feel better, so he wasn’t entirely against it. Even if it was with a demon. 

 

“Technically, I’m not possessed. This is 100% demon, baby. I’ve always looked like this.”

 

“Then where are your wings and shit?” It was weird, but Ryan wanted to see them again. To make sure Shane wasn’t just fucking around with him. And something about that blue, the deepest blue he had ever seen...

 

Shane’s eyes got soft. “Are you sure?” He said quietly, peering straight into Ryan. “I understand if you just want to know me as human Shane,”

 

“No. I want to see  _ you. _ ” 

 

“Okay. Okay,” Shane started to pull his  _ I Saw Bigfoot in Clearview, Maine  _ sweater off _.  _ How the fuck this still managed to make Ryan blush was beyond him. Once he was shirtless, the smooth lines of his back outlining his long figure, did it start to change. Right where his shoulder blades should have been, there where the faint outlines of wings. Giant wings, folded to be able to fit in the small hotel room. They were like fog at first, mist folding over and over until they were just  _ there.  _ They were giant, tucked close to Shane’s body, like he was hiding them. Like he was ashamed. Ryan slowly got up to face Shane. Deep blue horns curled on top of his head, but his eyes hadn’t changed. 

 

“Funny,” Ryan said. “I would’ve thought your eyes would be changed too.” 

 

“Nope,” Shane popped the p in the word. “This is all me, buckaroo.”

 

“Can-can I touch them?” 

 

“What?” 

 

“Your wings. What do they feel like?”

 

“Just feel.”

 

Ryan reached out to touch the galaxies in front of him. He was expecting something rough, like reptile scales, but when his fingers reached the surface, they met silk, more than silk, the softest feeling he had ever felt. It was like touching the stars. He gasped out loud.  

 

“What?” Shane said softly, his eyes crinkled softly in surprise. 

 

Ryan's eyes were lit by the soft glow of Shane’s wings. “It’s like touching the universe.” His fingers grazed along the edges of Shane’s wing, feeling the corners where the stars ended. “Are all demons like this?”

 

“Most demons are demon-born, so they just look like the typical ‘red spiked tail and pitchfork’ kind of thing. I’m not really sure what I am, so I don’t know why I’m like this. My friend is a Hopper though, which is a totally different ball park.”

 

“What do you mean, you don’t know what you are? Jesus Christ, Shane, what  _ are  _ you?” 

 

“Well, I think I might be Fallen, but that’s the least of my problems right now, so-”

 

“WHAT? How many fucking problems do you have that that is the least of your concerns?”

 

Shane turned to meet Ryan’s eyes. “I have to go back to Hell.”

 

A shock went through Ryan. “Why?”

 

“My mom wants to retire, and my other mom is stressed, and I have to fight this one guy unless I have a betrothed, and I can’t live here anymore.” Shane sniffled. Holy shit, was he crying?

 

“You can’t live in LA anymore?” That meant no Buzzfeed. That meant no Unsolved. Shit. Unsolved was his baby, how was he gonna recover from this? Shane was as much of a part of Unsolved as Ryan. He couldn’t just get rid of Shane like Brent. Their dynamic was just too important. If he had no unsolved, what the hell was he going to do? He couldn’t go back to just occasionally going in videos. What if he got fired, and-

 

“Ryan. Stop it. If I leave for Hell I’m gonna have to erase memories of me. That means no traces, whatsoever. No one can know where I went.” Shane met his eyes again. “Even you.”

 

No. No fucking way. No fucking way was he letting go of Shane again. Not this time. He had lost him once, he wasn’t going to do it again.

 

“Shane, I’m coming with you to Hell.” 

  
  



	4. Chapter 4

“Ryan, there’s no fucking way you’re coming to Hell with me.”

 

Ryan was standing in front of him, his hands on his hips defiantly. “I’m not just gonna fucking forget about you, Shane. You can’t just leave.”

 

“Jesus Christ, Ryan. I’m a fucking demon, and you’re just cool with it? And now you want to go to Hell with me?”

 

“Well I’m not going to just have my memory wiped, so you can fight with me as long as you want, but I’m winning this one.” God, as angry as he was, Ryan was so cute when he was angry. Even when his eyes were literal fire burning into Shane. His wings twitched with something like fear.

 

“Oh my God, we’re fighting like an old married couple.  You need to just drop it-”

 

Shane noticed the wheels turning in Ryan’s head. “No, Ryan. No, no, no..”

 

“Why don’t we get married? Then you won’t have to fight that one guy,” Ryan lit up. “You’ll win this fight and you’ll be able to come back to LA! We can do Unsolved again!”

 

The way Ryan was shining, the way he looked when he thought he had solved the case, both lit up Shane’s heart and broke it into a million pieces. 

 

“Ryan..” Shane started, staring at his feet. God, he was such a failure. “I would still have to be down there. Forever. My mom is retiring. Who do you think she is?”

 

Shane looked up to see Ryan packing his bag. “Shane, I kind of figured that you would be the kind of person to be the King of Hell. I mean, one time Sara got a papercut and you wanted to squirt lemon on it.” 

 

“Why are you so cool with this? You literally get scared when I drop my keys on the table.”

 

Ryan jumped up to grab his Lakers t-shirt from where it was strung on a desk. “Shane, all I know is that you’re  _ Shane.  _ And I need you for Unsolved. We will figure this out.” He met Shane’s eyes and something like respect  passed through both of them. “Also, you make good popcorn. I can’t lose the only kernel head at Buzzfeed.” He grinned at Shane. “So when are you expected in Hell?”

 

Oh, this stupid idiot. This stupid little human who made a demon fall in love. “You don’t want this, Ryan. I don’t think you understand the extent of what you’re doing.”

 

“Do I ever? Shane, I think life is about keeping on keeping on, even if you don’t know what the fuck is going on. And if I get to keep you, then by all means, throw me into Hell.”

 

“Put that on a grandma’s wall beside the cookie tin, holy shit,” Shane laughed, “Keep on Keeping on?”

 

Ryan smiled at Shane and kept packing his things. “So should I call in sick for work today, or are we 

waiting a while for our little vacation?”

 

“Well, the sooner we leave, the better. I totally get it if you want to say goodbye to your family, friends..”

 

Ryans eyes got hard. “No goodbyes. Let’s just go,” 

 

“Are you sure? Even if you want to phone them now, or-” 

 

“No. It’s better if I just go now.”

 

This was weird. Ryan was a family guy, wouldn’t he want to say his goodbyes? Something was going on. _ Everything _ was going on, but still. Weird. He’d ask about it later. 

 

“Okay, if you’re fine with it. I still don’t think you should come with me, but I know I won’t win this, so I guess we have to pretend we’re claimed.”

 

Ryan blinked at Shane. “Claimed? I thought we were getting married.” 

 

“Well, demons and other supernatural beings don’t really get married. It more than that. Being claimed is on a deeper level. It’s like accepting that you both mutually belong to each other. You can completely understand each other, and a part of you becomes and part of them, vice versa. It’s pretty cheesy but it’s totally legit. And we have to pretend that we are claimed to each other. Which is gonna take a lot of work.”

 

Ryan pulled the bigfoot sweater over his strong torso. It was snug in the arms. Shit. That’s hot. The fact that Shane was gonna have to pretend to be claimed with this guy was gonna be a struggle. Mainly because of the fact that the sweater is a  _ little  _ too small. In a good way. 

 

And the fact that this little man literally sacrificed his life in LA (for the time being. Shane was still working out how to get Ryan back from Hell), for him. Didn’t even think about it. He just did it. The thought of Ryan doing that made Shane dizzy with human feelings. Considering he was a literal antichrist, that worried him slightly. And gave him a headache. The pounding in his head shouldn’t be so bad. He’s a fucking demon, for Christ’s sake. He knew he couldn’t argue and win this fight with Ryan, so he was just going to leave it be. That is, until he found a way to get Ryan back his normal life. There was no way in Hell Ryan was, you know,  _ staying  _ in Hell.

 

But what if he did? Shane imagined Ryan by his side at the throne. He would be a good ruler with Shane, telling him when it was a bad idea, giving him other options, just being  _ Ryan.  _ They would be the best. The best rulers Hell had ever known. They could make it a better place. Help the streets become cleaner, get rid of the shit government, maybe even work out a better peace treaty for-

 

“Are all demons claimed? Or is it just Fallen?” Ryan broke Shane’s thoughts like glass. Why was he thinking about that? He shouldn’t let himself get too caught up in this stuff.  If he did, he’d just end up breaking his own heart again. 

 

“If you are able to find your claimed, you’re the luckiest demon in the world. Almost no one does,” Shane said. “But when you do, you feel it click into place. I’ve heard it’s like feeling your world realign into what it’s really supposed to feel like. You don’t know how wrong your world is until you are with that person.” Ryan looked at him with his  _ I want to ask more questions so badly and learn more but I don’t want to sound crazy  _ look. It was one of his favourite ‘Ryan looks’. 

 

“Well I hope you find yours,” Ryan said softly. Shane almost laughed out loud.   _ If only you knew. I won’t find anyone if you’re here. _

 

“Thanks, but I’ve got enough on the go right now to be worrying about that. I won’t be thinkin’ bout that for a couple more millenia.”

 

Ryan’s jaw dropped to the floor. “You’re saying you live… you’re immortal? How old are you?”

 

Shane felt himself blush. “Well…” 

 

“Shane!” Ryan yelped. “Don’t tell me you’ve seen dinosaurs!” 

 

He laughed. “Well, I’ve been around for longer than them, so..”

 

Ryan sat down on the bed again. “Holy fuck. My best friend is a demon that has been around since evolution began. What am I supposed to do with that information?”

 

Shane giggled. “Well, it’s not like I do anything with it. Why should you?”

 

Ryan gave him a semi serious look. (Another one of Shane’s favourites). “I have so many questions. What was the Renaissance like? Did you meet anyone famous? What colour were dinosaurs? Did you act like a human back then? Were the Romans-”

 

A knock at the door stopped Ryans questions in their tracks. “Before I answer those, I think our ride to Hell is here.” Shane said, shifting so he looked fully human again.  _ Out of the frying pan, into the fire,  _ he thought, looking over to Ryan, who’s grip on his suitcase had made his knuckles go white.  _ Let’s hope he survives the shock value,  _ Shane thought,  _ Or else he’s not gonna get through the night. _

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

When Shane opened the door to a scrawny twenty-something kid wearing a tweed suit, Ryan couldn’t say he wasn’t surprised.

 

“Hey, Shane.” the kid said, walking straight past both of them without being invited in. “Where are we going?” he said, nonchalant, as he pulled things from his inside pockets. A ball of string, some glitter glue, what looked like glow-stick juice to Ryan… It seemed like his pockets were never ending.  

 

Shane rolled his eyes. “How rude,” he muttered under his breath to Ryan. “Erreg, this is Ryan. Ryan, Erreg.”

 

Erreg looked up quickly and shook Ryan’s hand. “Pleasure to meet you. Is he coming?” he said to Shane, acting as if Ryan wasn’t in the room with them. Shane seemed to notice the same thing. 

 

“Erreg, he’s right here. Yes, he’s coming.” Shane rubbed his temples, the strange man already seeming to annoy him. “He’s going to pretend we’re claimed to each other.” 

 

_ That  _ made Erreg look up from his work. “Are you serious?” He said, looking from Shane to Ryan and back to Shane again. “There’s no way that’s gonna work.”

 

Shane’s nose scrunched up. “Well it’s going to have to,” he said, staring at a spot on the hotel wall. “Unless you want to be my claimed.”

 

“Woah-ho-ho. No siree, buddy,” Erreg said, holding his hands up in surrender. “I’m just here to be your devoted follower who can also rip holes in the fabric of reality. I’m no claimed, trust me.”

 

For the second time in about three minutes Ryan’s jaw dropped to the floor. “You-your job is to tear the universe apart?”

 

“No, you buffoon,” Erreg said, blowing some yellowish powder onto the ground. “I rip holes and sew them back up. I’m a Hopper. I transport people and things across dimensions, and in your case, worlds.” He stood up and dusted his hands off. He finally pulled a small, actual magic thing from his pocket. It was a small vial, and inside it held something that Ryan can only describe as stardust. He dropped a couple of drips onto the glitter-glue/binder twine thing that was a mess on the floor, and it changed in front of his eyes into a light purple portal. 

 

“It’s like Rick and Morty,” Ryan whispered. 

 

Shane laughed as Erreg bowed extravagantly. “Your ride awaits,” Erreg said with a fake British accent. Then he just hopped down the portal and disappeared. 

 

Shane leaned closer to him. “You good?” he asked, concern in his voice. 

 

“Yeah,” Ryan said, hating how his voice trembled. “I’m sure it’ll be nice down there. Maybe we could get some pina coladas?”

 

Shane giggled and wrapped Ryan’s arm around him. “I guess you’ll have to jump and see.” he said, pulling Ryan with him straight into the portal. Ryan swore he could hear the echoes of his  _ fuck youuuu  _ to Shane through the other side of the portal. 

Ryan had thought the portal would go on for a while, like the inside of the thing in  _ Coraline,  _ or the scenes in  _ Thor  _ when they travel in the bifrost _.  _ But as soon as they jumped through, all Ryan saw was a flash of every color imaginable, and then he fell right on top of Shane after dropping three feet from the opening of the portal. They landed in a tangle of limbs, their noses just barely touching each other. Shane’s breath tickled Ryan’s ear, but he didn’t move. They locked eyes and it felt like Ryan couldn’t break the contact. He didn’t  _ want  _ to break contact. Shane’s eyes were dusk on an autumn night, when the sky was on fire. They had tiny flecks of gold in them, dotting his burnt sky with stars. He couldn’t look away. He could cry, the feeling that color gave him. Pain, death, calmness, sadness,  _ everything.  _ It was like looking at a painting of war. He could imagine the battles going on down below the bronze skies, all of the life and death, pain and sadness. 

 

Then Erreg cleared his throat, and the moment was gone. It probably only lasted about five seconds, but it had felt like an era to Ryan. Shane shifted underneath him and he remembered to roll off of him. He blushed as he realized he had basically had Shane pinned. Yet Shane hadn’t said anything about it. Weird.

 

_ He’s seen things,  _ Ryan thought, looking back at Shane and his sad eyes as he stood up.  _ He’s seen things I can never imagine.  _

 

Shane bounced up from the cold floor and Ryan did the same. “Welcome,” Shane said, gesturing to the world in front of them. “To Hell.”

 

They were standing in a room with nothing but a old wood desk and some blinds on the wall, turned yellow with age. “That’s it?” Ryan said, turning around in his spot. He snorted. “Here I was expecting to land in flames and burning bodies, yet apparently all Hell is is just a old room that smells like mildew. funny-“

 

Erreg walked over to the blinds and ripped them open, stopping Ryan from finishing his sentence. Through the spider cracks in the window he could see streets, endless streets filled with small vendors and shops of every kind imaginable. Everything was bathed in an dark green light, shading even the brightest colours to a mossy shade. People,  _ demons _ , filled the streets to the brim. Every one was different, whether they had giant horns wrapping around their heads, or snaking tails, just avoiding cloven hooves or just plain business shoes. Ryan even saw one with multiple heads, wearing just a t-shirt that said  _ Moms Against Exorcisms.  _ He felt his feet start sway beneath him. 

 

Strong, clawed hands gripped his shoulders reassuringly. “Hey bud,” Shane said from behind him. “You’re okay.”

 

Even though they didn’t feel like normal fingers, and it should have freaked Ryan out, somehow Shane’s clawed hands had a calming effect on him. Thinking about those midnight black talons attached to Shane made his clenched fingers relax, and his tense shoulders release. Shane must have felt the change too, because he dropped his hands from Ryan’s shoulders. He backed up from the window.

 

Erreg spoke first. “He’s not gonna blend in down there. I can’t drop us directly in the Mansion, so I got us as close as possible. But still, we are gonna have to get him through the streets. Envy had the closest drop-spot I knew of. Which might not work out as well for you,” He said, addressing Shane. 

 

Shane hissed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Of all the places,” He muttered, as Erreg started to try and defend his drop-spot. “At least it’s not Wrath!” Erreg said, fluttering his sparrow wings that Ryan was just now noticing. 

 

“I’m sorry, what’s going on?” Ryan said, a tinge of annoyance coloring his words. 

 

Shane rolled his eyes. “Right, you don’t know,” he explained. “Hell is divided into seven cities, one for each of the seven sins. Right now we are in Envy, and if they even  _ see _ royalty, they get so jealous they’ll attack the royal mentioned. We don’t come here often,” He said, looking out the window, his face illuminated in forest green. “Every demon is from a certain section. There’s Wrath demons, Greed demons, Lust demons,” He mumbled the last quietly, silently gesturing to himself. Shane, a lust demon? That was something Ryan was going to come back to. “While the ruling family does rule and pass the crown through generations, that ruling family is from one city of Hell, and it can be stolen from other cities. My family has had the crown for the past 5000 years, and got it from Wrath. The cities are in a constant game of chess to get the crown. Which is why it’s so important for me to be back here,” He added, looking back to Ryan. “Which is why we need to disguise you.”

 

Erreg scoffed. “And how are we supposed to do that?”

 

“We call my sister.” Shane replied. As if it was as simple as that. He walked over to the desk and pulled open one of the rusted drawers. Inside was an old phone, the kind that you pull the circle to get to the number. 

 

“Why the fuck was that in a drawer?” Ryan asked, because there were a million other questions he wanted answered, but that obviously wasn’t happening. 

 

Shane shrugged as he pulled the circle back to a rune-looking number. “It’s Hell, what do you expect?”

 

“Well I can tell you I wasn’t expecting so many politics involved,” Ryan muttered to himself. 

 

“Oh, you don’t even know the half of it.” Shane said just as the phone started to ring. Why the hell was it ringing when he was the one phoning?

 

All Shane had to say was “Come here, please.” and the phone immediately hung up. As soon as he set the phone down on its base there was a knock on the door. 

 

He walked over to the door and opened it to the most beautiful woman Ryan had ever seen. She moved with a fluidity he had only ever seen in water, like waves overlapping each other in a constant cycle, over to Ryan and stared him down with amber flecked eyes. She smelt like oak and burning rubber. In a good way. 

 

“Stop drooling, Ryan.” Shane said, rolling his eyes again. “This is my sister, Azalia.”

 

“Call me Az,” She said quietly, walking slowly around Ryan. She was at least a foot taller than Ryan. She crouched down slightly to look at his face. “I’ll disguise him as a visiting Pride,” She announced as she stood back to her full height and looked to Shane. “He seems like a cocky one.” Ryan almost said something about that, but something about how her eyes burned told him to he should hold his tongue.

 

She slowly walked over to Shane. “You can be disguised as am Envy demon. I know how much you love them,” She said, a bait Ryan knew Shane would take. He mumbled to himself, then looked up to his sister and smiled. “Good to see you, A.” 

 

Azalia finally smiled, perfect white teeth shining. “Hi, Shane.” She grabbed him and wrapped him tight in a death-grip hug. Their tails flicked at each other, Shane’s indigo whipping at Azalia’s burnt orange.

 

She pushed Shane off of her and side eyed Erreg, who was standing beside Ryan. She turned to Shane again. “Why is he here?” She scoffed, crossing her arms.

 

“I know you guys… don’t like each other, but can you at least tolerate each other until we get back to the palace? Just focus on the task ahead.” Shane acted different in Hell, Ryan realized. He held himself taller, spoke with a regal matter, acted like royalty.  _ I guess he is technically royalty,  _ Ryan thought to himself.  _ He’s probably got a reputation to keep.  _

 

Az sighed and turned back to Ryan. “Let’s start with him.” She grabbed his head gently and pressed her clawed thumbs to his temples. She kept adding pressure, pressure,  _ pressure,  _ until it was almost unbearable. Then she just,  _ stopped.  _ “All done,” She said, an air of pride in her voice. “I think he looks great. He’ll  totally blend in.” 

 

Ryan felt,  _ different.  _ There was a thrumming in his veins, a tingling in his nerves, everything felt  _ weird.  _ It wasn’t wrong, just different. “Jeez, that was craz..”

 

His eyes caught on his reflection of the cracked window. He had  _ horns.  _ Sharp, dark purple horns, reaching up and twisting. His hands went to shoot up, to grab them, because it couldn’t be  _ real,  _ there’s no way, he wasn’t a  _ demon,  _ no no no way- 

 

His hands had changed into clawed tips. He had  _ claws.  _ Actual, fucking  _ claws.  _ They looked like they were made of amethyst, like hard gems, that were  _ attached to him.  _ They were his  _ hands.  _ His.

 

He rushed over to the window, his fucking  _ wings  _ knocking over a bookshelf on the wall. Papers flew everywhere, spiralling around him as he looked at himself in the window.

 

His  _ eyes.  _ His fucking eyes were even demon. One was its normal color, and the other was bright yellow, slitted like a cat. He blinked, and the pupil of his yellow eye expanded and contracted. It was real. It was  _ real.  _

 

“What. Did. You. Do. To. Me.” He growled, actually  _ growled,  _ like the fucking animal he  _ was  _ now, to Azalia. 

 

She shrugged again. “You look demon now.  That’s all I did.” She peered closer at him. “Except for the eye. That was all you, apparently. Nice touch.”

 

For the second time that day, Ryan felt his feet sway underneath him. “I”m-I’m not demon-”

 

Shane swore. “Why didn’t you warn him? He doesn’t know how this stuff works!” Shane and Azalia continued to argue as Ryans world went black.The last thing he heard before passing out was the sound of Shane yelling his name and Erreg yelping in surprise as he fell into his arms.  

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it! This was a long-ass chapter.
> 
> If you were wondering what Ryan felt when he looked into Shane's eyes, I listened to these two songs. 
> 
> https://youtu.be/MpInx9srjRU
> 
> https://youtu.be/FLl0U0Uk_z8
> 
> if you can't tell, I'm a huge DW and Sherlock Fan ;)


	5. Chapter 5

Azalia had just the right amount of nerve to make demon Ryan look  _ good.  _ His violet wings were soft to the touch, just like silk, and they were fucking  _ giant.  _ They draped over Erreg, who Ryan had collapsed on, so much that if you couldn’t hear Erreg screaming from underneath him, you wouldn’t be able to tell that there was a demon under there. Most demons had wings that were about a foot or two longer than their arm length, but Ryans were at least four feet bigger on each side, if not more.

 

“Why the fuck are his wings so big?” Shane asked as he pulled the little man-demon Ryan off of Erreg. Shane had to admit, those big wings suited Ryan. And the horns. And the  _ claws.  _ Oh, he could just imagine those claws, raking down his sides softly, almost breaking skin, feeling so  _ good _ -

 

“My powers only do so much. It all depends on the person i’m Disguising or Changing. Apparently he’s got a vivid imagination. That eye is  _ amazing. _ ” She hummed the last word as she helped to fold Ryan’s wings to create more space in the already cramped room. 

 

Now that he was back in Hell, Shane’s ‘lust powers,’ (as Erreg called them) had already started to come back stronger than ever. Apparently having Ryan as a demon ( _ really hot sexy demon let’s go get him now)  _ wasn’t helping the little voice in the back of his mind saying ( _ oh Ryan and his arms and his eyes and oh-) _

 

Fuck. This had to end soon. There was no way he was gonna last, being one of the highest ranking Lust demons in Hell. Especially around those wings. As much as Shane wanted to have them stay, he knew that Ryan could never take it. No, he wasn’t gonna be Disguised for long.

 

_ (oh but those wings could just wrap around you and that tail-) _

 

Shane was ashamed of being demon in front of Ryan. He shouldn’t be thinking about Ryan being demon with him! Fuck, he even lied and told Ryan his brown eyes were just him. Technically, they were the ones he was born with (Fallen look a little more human), but his normal demon eyes were just black. In the moment, he had felt like he couldn’t tell Ryan, couldn’t lose that one thing that made him the most human. But now, looking at Ryan’s tail, flicking with fearful dreams, he  _ wanted  _ Ryan to know. He wanted to show him everything, that it was okay. Make sure he knew that Shane wasn’t evil. Because he wasn’t, was he?

 

He  _ really  _ needed to stop thinking about this. Dealing with your personal issues? Pssh, who has time for that? Certainly not him. What he needed to focus on was getting Ryan through Hell so they could get a move on. Specifically, getting back so he could figure out how to get Ryan back to LA. 

 

_ (Do you think his tongue is forked? Oh, and sharp teeth. Those teeth can do things to you..) _

 

“Shut the fuck up,” Shane mumbled under his breath.

 

“Pardon?” Az said, her tail spinning. “Nothing,” Shane mumbled, shaking his head slightly.

Ryan started to move in his sleep/blackout. For someone who had literally gotten wings about four minutes before, he seemed to be perfectly accustomed to them. He shuffled them around in his dreams, positioning them so they tarped over him in a cocoon.  _ How the fuck he knows what to do already amazes me,  _ Shane thought.  _ It’s like it’s second nature.  _

 

But no. It couldn’t be Ryan’s second nature, or his third nature, not even his eighth nature. He wouldn’t be happy, it just wouldn’t work. Ryan has a family, a life in LA. There’s no way he could stay in Hell. Even if he was better at it than Shane, who was literally in line for the  _ fucking throne.  _

 

_ (but he could be your little servant, oh he could be the king’s little human pet and take care of your  _ **_needs-)_ **

 

“Jesus CHRIST-” Shane roared, forgetting about the other demons in the room. Both of them flinched back, Erreg almost jumping into Az’s arm. “You can’t say that!” Erreg gasped. Az had gone pale and had closed her eyes. Even Ryan had flinched. Shit.

 

“Fuck. You okay, A? Shit, I didn’t mean to do that.” 

 

“No SHIT, SHERLOCK!” Az roared, her wings flaring. “You spend so much time with those fucking  _ humans  _ that you’re becoming just like them!”

 

Ouch. That hurt. Obviously Az had some mixed feelings about Shane leaving Hell. She seemed to realize what she had said, her next words rushed. “I didn’t mean that,” She said. “You’re not like them. You didn’t do anything wrong-”

 

“Maybe it’s  _ better _ to be like them, Az. Look at us. Three demons yelling at everything and trying to get the throne from a fucking  _ douchebag.”  _ Shane said, hissing the last word. 

 

The silence lasted for a while before Erreg broke it.“Well, life ain’t fair, is it.” he sighed. “But we still have to figure out how to get ol’ sleepy here back to the palace, since we can’t drop in there directly.” He gestured to Ryan, who was drooling a little bit from the corner of his mouth. Shane figured it was because he had fangs now. He knew Ryan never slept with his mouth open. He had stayed enough nights with him to know by now. 

 

_ (too bad those nights weren’t spent in his arms-) _

 

His asshat of a brain wouldn’t shut up about Ryan. This was gonna have to stop. Maybe Az had something in her apothecary. But-

That last thought wasn’t sexual. It had nothing to do with Ryan sleeping with him, or using his hands  _ (claws-)  _ his little voice reminded him.  _ (Sharp claws. And sharp fangs. And giant wings-) _

 

Aaand it was back. Still, it was funny his little voice was thinking that way now. Maybe it had just run out of ideas. 

 

_ (Trust me, ‘it’ hasn’t. We haven’t even started with the tail.) _

 

“Why don’t we just cart him through in a medical buggy? Az is Head of Healing, so it would look normal-” Erreg started.

 

Az rolled her eyes. “I’m  _ Head  _ of healing, dipshit. Everyone knows me. I would be like a celebrity walking through a normal street.” She made a good point. Az was basically the face of demon medicine down here, a prestigious (and very wealthy) job to have. If Envy demons as much as smelled her, they would all be torn to shreds. 

 

Shane began to pace back and forth in the small room, making it feel more cramped than it already was. “There’s no other drop spots to go to?” He said, turning to an irritated Erreg. 

 

“This is technically the closest one to the Palace. We could go to the one in Greed, but I’m not a…. favourite there. And the one directly in Pride is surrounded by shops. Everyone would notice us.”

 

Well shit. Getting to Lust was not going to be an easy task. He was hoping to get Ryan to his room before he woke up, just so he could calm the man ( _ demon,)  _ the voice reminded him ( _ very much a handsome demon. In your chambers-)  _ calm the man down so he didn’t freak out and destroy something. They still had no idea what kind of powers he had. He could kill something if they weren’t careful. 

 

Speaking of Ryan, the small man was starting to stir within his wing cocoon. They needed to figure things out fast before they had an angry half-demon who doesn’t know their powers yet. This could be very bad. Very, very bad. 

 

“Can we go outside a designated drop spot? Why don’t we just drop outside of the Palace?” Shane said, an edge of panic hiding in his voice. “We can’t,” Erreg said, rubbing his eyes. “If they see us drop outside the Palace, we could be charged. Even if we have connections.” He added, glancing to Azalia. 

 

An idea popped into Shane’s head. God, he really was a genius sometimes. “What if I’m hurt? It’s an emergency then. A  _ royal  _ emergency.” Azalia stared at him like he was out of his mind. “And how do you suppose you would pull that off?” she said, hands on her hips. 

 

Shane gave her a half smile. “Like this,” he said, right before collapsing to the ground.

  
  


\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
  
  


The first thing Ryan saw when he woke up was a dead Shane.

 

Well, to be fair, he didn’t know for sure if Shane was dead. But it sure as hell looked like it.

Somehow in the however many seconds he was asleep, Shane had gotten a bruise that covered the entire left half of his face and a swollen black eye so big Ryan almost didn’t think it was real. There was blood running down the side of face over the bruise, meeting his lips at the low point. The blood stained his lips crimson, and Ryan had the urge to both scream and wipe the blood away with his fingers. He almost did, catching himself when he realized once again that his fingers were claws. Dark purple claws, that bled out and faded until it was his normal skin tone. Almost his entire hand was purple. He stared as he flexed his own hands, turning them back and forth. It really was a beautiful colour, though Ryan had never been a fan of purple.  _ It suits you, _ he thought to himself.

 

Wait, what the fuck? This doesn’t suit him! Ryan Bergara was not a demon, or dragon hybrid, or whatever the fuck this was. Once Shane woke up, he would  _ kill  _ him. 

 

If Shane woke up. Somehow, all of his thoughts had gotten so tangled and led to one another that he had totally forgotten his possibly dead friend right beside him. He suddenly panicked, frantically grabbing Shane’s wrist to find a pulse. 

 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, goddamnit Shane, fuck,” Ryan whispered to himself as he searched for anything, for any sign of something there to tell him Shane was gonna be okay. 

 

Suddenly, Shane opened his eyes. “Ryan, I’m fine,” he started. Ryan jumped, sticking out his tongue and hissing.

 

Realizing what he did, Ryan’s hands went straight to his mouth, his eyes wide with horror. Speaking through his hands, he spoke in a terrified whisper. “Shane… Do I have fangs?”

 

Shane laughed quietly. “Yes, you do. And a forked tongue.”

 

Ryan almost passed out again. Now that he knew they were there, he ran his now long, forked tongue over his new canines. They were wicked sharp, but he somehow knew he wouldn’t cut himself with them. It’s like he had lived with them for a while. 

 

Which worried him. This wasn’t normal, wasn’t supposed to be normal for him to just adjust to. He should feel like everything is wrong, like his world had been realigned. 

 

But he felt normal. The axis of his mind hadn’t been tipped, he hadn’t been shaken by this change. He felt fine. What the fuck?

 

Suddenly realizing that he had a bunch of new body parts, Ryan turned around in the dark space they were in to try and see if he had a tail like Shane. He found it, smooth with slightly gleaming scales, but also noticed the ends of wings poking out of his back. Wings. Real, scaley, huge wings. He realized he was shading the room, which explained why it was so dark. He had created a cocoon around himself, and apparently Shane as well. They were both encased in Ryan’s giant wings, which Ryan thought was a feat of nature, to be able to fit all of him and Shane inside of the space.

 

Well, it was a tight fit. Shane was squeezed close to him, their legs knocking together at the knees and ankles. Their tails moved together too, flicking against each other in a slow beat. Shane and him realized their closeness at the same time, and shifted away from each other quickly. Ryan went to move his wings away from Shane’s body, but Shane grabbed the edge.

 

“Stay,” he rushed, making Ryan blush. Did he really want that, for him to stay there, pressed close together-

 

“We need to hide,” Shane started, “They don’t know if I’m alive or not.” Ryan deflated. He kept bringing his hopes up too easily. There was no way Shane would like him like that. 

 

Sudden curiosity took over Ryan again. “What do you mean, ‘them’? Who are we hiding from? And how did you get so fucked up?”

 

Shane almost rolled his eyes, but stopped himself. “I fucked  _ myself  _ up. You know how we were in that room but we needed to get to the Palace? I put a simple illusion spell on myself so it looks like I’m seriously injured. That way, it’s a royal emergency, and I can be transported directly to the Palace, along with my claimed,” He said, silently gesturing to Ryan.

“But why do we have to hide under my-” he stopped. “My wings?”

 

“Because they’re fucking huge,” Shane laughed. “Your wingspan is like, double the size of normal wings. You must have four feet more on everyone in Hell. And that’s saying something.” Shane realized he was getting off track again. “And because they can’t see me fucked up. My moms will totally freak out and send me to the healers, and I’ll be stuck in the medical wing for weeks. Also, it’s good for our trick.”

 

Ryan gave Shane a quizzical look. “You know, pretending that we’re claimed to each other?” Shane said. “It’ll look good. Like we’re protecting each other.”

 

Blood rose to Ryan’s cheeks. He tried to brush the comment off. “Oh yeah, big guy? And how are you protecting me? I kind of have us covered,” he chided, looking at his wings surrounding them.

“I put a protection spell around us,” Shane said. “No one can penetrate the circle around us, unless I allow it. But something tells me we wouldn’t need that,” Shane added. “Considering your wings are so huge. I can imagine they’re thick, too. And the fact that your claws seem to be made of amethyst, I’m thinking everything else must be made of the same kind of stuff. Even those horns,” he joked, making Ryan’s hands shoot up to his head. He had forgotten about those. They were cool to the touch, and even though he couldn’t see them himself, he could feel that they were quite thick, and curled like an ibex, but down, following the shape of his skull. They were smaller than Shane’s, Ryan duly noted.

 

“And that eye,” Shane said, inching closer to Ryan’s face. “W-What about it?” Ryan said with a mix of both fear and embarrassment. “You know that this is all from you, right?” Shane smirked, pointing a claw to Ryan’s chest. “Az didn’t choose what you looked like. She just laid the foundations,” he smiled as he said it, the kind of Shane smile that meant he was up to no good. “You seem to have quite the imagination,” he drawled. “And very specific. I’ve never seen an eye like that. And those  _ wings.  _ Wow, you are very detailed.” Ryan couldn’t help but feel the blood run to his cheeks again, couldn’t hide the fact that Shane talking about him had an effect on him, that made blood run to other places. An idea arrowed through Ryan’s hazy mind, which was filling with some thoughts that he couldn’t have put there himself.

 

“Hey, stop it.” He said, hating how his voice went up slightly.

 

Shane’s face got softer. “Stop what?” he said, slightly teasing.

 

“You know what I mean.” 

 

“Do I?” Shane said, peering at Ryan with an intensity he didn’t like. Well, he did like it. A little too much. 

 

“Aren’t you using your powers? On me? I think that should be off limits, considering that we’re-”

 

“Woah, woah, bud. What kind of powers do you think I have?” Shane asked, his face changed from one of making fun to something a little more serious. 

 

Ryan’s blush went maroon. “You know. You’re… A lust demon? And you do.. Lust stuff?”

 

It was Shane’s turn to go red. “Ryan, it’s not like that,” he stammered. Why was he so worked up about this too? Usually Shane was the calm and collected one. “And even if it worked like that, I wouldn’t do that to you,” he rushed, trying to recover and possibly make Ryan feel better. “That’s.. Not nice to do. And not called for,” he muttered. 

 

“Unless,” he said softly. Ryan suddenly became aware of how close they were. Shane was practically in his arms. He could feel Shane’s breath on him. “Unless you would want me like that-”

 

A crash outside of their wing cocoon broke the thought in mid air. “WHERE IS MY SON?! SHANE?”

 

Shane grabbed onto the edge of Ryan’s wing, ready to lift it up. “Welcome to the family, Ryan.” He grimaced, then lifted his wing up to meet the bright light outside of the shelter they had made them.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY. I didn't mean for this to take so long, and I feel really bad about it. There's been... a lot going on. Hopefully I won't do this often. Thank you all for all the feedback on this fic, it really means a lot to me. Thanks for sticking around!!!


End file.
